failegaidin

Jack watched Chloe at her workstation as he stood in Bill's office. Even from that distance he could see that her hands were rubbed raw from trying to get the blood of her ex-husband off of them. She was focusing intently on her computer screen, but he could tell that she was just barely holding on.

***

Chloe looked on in horror as she realized that Morris had betrayed them all. That he had betrayed his country because of her. She searched for something, anything, to say, but words eluded her. She could only stare at the man she had once loved.

"Thank you, Morris," Nina said. "We won't be needing your services any longer."

She put a gun to Morris' head and pulled the trigger.

***

"So where are you going to go, Jack?" Bill asked, pulling the other man out of his memories.

"Somewhere warm," he answered, still looking down at Chloe.

Bill smiled. "Good. I expect you to relax the whole time you're there, Jack. No breaking into any consulates or uncovering any government conspiracies, you go that?"

Jack let a small smile creep onto his face. "Yeah, I promise."

Bill walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Just ask her, Jack," he said quietly.

"What if she says no?" Jack asked, his voice small and afraid – something Bill had never heard from him before.

***

As Jack reached the bottom of the stairs, he was met by Milo and Nadia.

"All set, Jack," Milo told him. "Here you go." He handed something to Jack. Your bags are packed and in the SUV."

"Chloe's are too," Nadia interjected.

Jack was in the process of stuffing the object in his back pocket when her words sunk in. He looked at her sharply. "But I haven't asked her yet. And how did you even know I was going to ask her?"

"Oh come on, Jack. We're not stupid. It's become increasingly obvious how you feel about her. Especially since you finally got rid of Audrey."

Milo winced at Nadia's bluntness. She had definitely been spending too much time with Chloe. "Look, Jack. You both need a vacation. A very long vacation where you spend too much time in the sun and drink far too many fruity drinks with the little umbrellas in them. Even if nothing…you know…happens…you two are friends. And you could both use a friend right now. So go. Ask her."

Jack smiled and shook Milo's hand. "Thank, Milo."

As he was walking away, Jack turned around again. "Oh, and Nadia? Milo's just too scared to ask you out. You might have take the initiative."

He walked towards Chloe's station as Milo was left standing in shock next to a smirking Nadia.

***

She was rubbing her hands again. She knew that she should stop, but she was doing it naturally though. She could still feel the blood oozing between her fingers as she held Morris' head. She could still feel it running down her hands as she looked at his eyes and realized he was already gone – had been before he'd hit the ground. She could still see it staining her clothes as she realized that he had betrayed everything, and that she didn't – couldn't – love him anymore.

"Chloe?"

She turned to see Jack looking at her, worry evident in his eyes. She tried to smile, but it came across as more of a grimace.

"Hey," she said.

He looked around nervously, and Chloe realized that he was fidgeting. That seemed wrong to her. Jack Bauer never fidgeted. That was her thing. She reached out her hand and laid it gently on his arm, startling herself with the contact. It felt like forever since she had really touched anyone.

"I have something ask you," he said abruptly, looking straight into her eyes.

She nodded, finally feeling like she was on familiar ground. "What do you need?" she asked.

Jack looked at her, trying to figure out where the change in her tone had come from. He rifled back through what he had just said, and then it hit him.

"No, Chloe…" he smiled, realizing that he had butterflies in his stomach for the first time in a very long time. "I don't need you to do anything…well, I mean…I do, but not…not for work. Just…for me," he whispered the last part.

Her familiar ground being taken out from under her, Chloe took up the fidgeting where Jack had left off. "What do you mean?"

Jack took a deep breath and pulled something out of his back pocket. He held it in front of him, staring at it because he couldn't stand to look at her as he asked.

"I'm leaving," he said, and that was all he got out. He heard a sharp intake of breath and looked up in time to see a tear slide down Chloe's cheek as she tried her hardest to keep her face stoic. Her heart dropped like a stone into her stomach as she realized that he was just here to say goodbye. She took her hand off of his arm and took a step back.

Jack reacted quickly. He took her face in his hands, still holding the object from his back pocket. "No, Chloe. It's not like that. I'm not leaving for good. I just…need a break. I need to go somewhere where I can just…relax. Though I'm not even sure I know how to do that anymore."

Chloe nodded and calmed down – but only a little. He might say that he was coming back now, but who was to say he wouldn't disappear again? He had been in China for the past eighteen months, and presumed dead the year before that. And now he was leaving again, just when she was adjusting to his being around.

"I want you to come with me," he said quietly, breaking her out of her thoughts.

"What?" she asked, her nose crinkling in confusion.

Jack took a deep breath and took his hands from her face. He fumbled with what was in his hands, and she finally saw that they were plane tickets.

"I want you to come with me," he repeated. "We both need a vacation, Chloe…we both need to get away from here for awhile. Away from the memories." He looked up at her again. "And you're the only person I'd want to go with."

Chloe looked at him in shock. Her brain had started to shut down as soon as he finished saying that he wanted her to go with him. Her mind, working like a computer, shut down when faced with an impossible function.

"Chloe?"

She suddenly remembered to breath again. "Where would we go?" she asked.

Jack allowed himself a small smile. "Is that a yes?"

Chloe looked down at her feet. Was it?

"Yes," she whispered.

Jack's face broke into a wide grin as she answered him. He put the tickets down on her desk and pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her and holding her tight. He felt her stiffen immediately, but as he started to pull away, she returned the embrace with a desperation that he thought only he felt.

When they broke apart, they stayed close – her hands still on his shoulders and his still on her waist.

"Where are we going?" she asked again.

Jack smiled as he turned and packed up her things from her desk. He shut down her computer and grabbed the tickets.

"I'm not telling you," he said.

"But Jack, you have to. How am I going to pack?"

"Your bags are already in the car."

"You packed my bags?" she asked, her voice going up a few notches at the thought of Jack touching her clothes.

"No, no. Don't worry," he said as he wrapped an arm around her waist and led her out of CTU. "Nadia broke into your apartment and packed your stuff. No boys touched your things."

Chloe turned her head and shot Nadia a nasty look, but the woman just smiled at her. She and Milo waved cheerily as the two exited the building.